I Thirst
A GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION
“And Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, “I thirst.” John 19:28-29
“I thirst.” Beloved Jesus, how ironic that you, the very “living water” should experience so great a thirst as to give voice to your suffering, the words falling upon the deaf ears of those huddled below the cursed tree upon which you hang. No one comes to help. Not one offers relief: no water to cool parched lips, to soothe your burning throat. You Jesus, who healed the sick, fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind, offering the water of eternal life to all who would listen... finds no comfort. Instead, “They gave you gall for food, and for your thirst they gave you vinegar to drink.”
“I thirst.” How can it be O’ Christ, that you, the son of God, could ever utter such words? Are you not God? Can you not command water to come from the stones, or summon the angels to wet your lips? With a word the heavens would pour down rain upon your parched and bloody body as you hang on a cross at the place called Golgotha. Yes, Lord, you can do all these things and more… for you Jesus are God. But, you are also man. You were born a man. Lived as a man. And suffered as a man.
“I am poured out like water all my bones are out of joint… My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my gums and thou bringest me into the dust of death.”
The son of God humbled himself and became man to suffer, to thirst, to die. For only the perfect sinless man could be the acceptable sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the whole world. “You were made man that we might be made God… You endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.” (Athanasius)
It had to be this way, for You O Lord said that “the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” You willingly accepted and drank deeply from the cup of wrath given by the Father. “Not my will but your will be done.” Hanging on the cross, while drinking from the cup of suffering, this son of God and son of man thirsts! You who are in need of refreshment is poured out like water for the healing of the nations.
“I thirst.” Surely you thirst after the Father who has forsaken you (for all abandoned you!). From the parched and barren wasteland that is your cross, we hear your voice in the words of the Psalmist,
O God, you are my God! I long for you!
My soul thirsts for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water (Ps 69:3)
You cry out but no water reaches your lips. The thirst of disobedient Israel was quenched in the desert, the Father led them through dry regions, “he made water flow out of a rock for them; he split open a rock and water flowed out” (Ps 48:12). And yet, for you, who are the “true and obedient Israel” no water flows from the rock. You are parched, unquenched, and utterly forsaken.
“I thirst.” O’ Christ our Redeemer, how deeply you thirsted for our salvation. Drinking willingly from the cup of wrath, receiving in your body the full penalty for our sins, and yet you say “I thirst.” Can it be that you are willing for our sake to drink even more from this cup of suffering? Yes. You would gladly drink, and drink, and drink as much as necessary, every last drop. O’ how deep and wide is your love towards us, You, who thirsted after our righteousness, suffering beyond comprehension, that we might be called the sons and daughters of God. Amen.
